There’s a new advertisement running in St. Louis aimed at hurting the man who stole professional football from the city, and it’s being run by the union that represents local grocery store workers.

“I couldn’t think of a better Grinch in St. Louis than Stan Kroenke – the Grinch who stole our St. Louis Rams,” UFCW Local 655 President David Cook said.

The union spent $500,000 on the television and radio advertising campaigns. The ads are encouraging shoppers to go to Dierbergs, Schnucks and Shop ‘n Save instead of Walmart.

Rams owner Stan Kroenke married into the Walmart family and has developed strip malls anchored by the stores. The ads mention how he moved the team to Los Angeles.

“I don’t think the public realizes his correlation to Walmart,” Cook said. “So I thought it was my job to let the St. Louis public know who Stan Kroenke is. We can never punish NFL owners. This time we can. We can actually hurt the guy who took our football team."

“It’s going to have an effect. I’m sure it’s going to have an effect on St. Louis shoppers’ habits.”

The advertisements are going to run throughout the holiday season or – as Cook says – as far as $500,000 gets them.

News 4 reached out to Walmart for a response to the advertising campaign. They sent a statement which reads:

More than 13,000 people in the St. Louis area are working at Walmart this holiday season, helping their neighbors save time and money as they shop. We’re proud of what they do every day to take care of their community, and we appreciate their continued focus on providing great service to customers during this busy time of yea